A common domestic appliance found in many homes is the dishwasher. The dishwasher generally includes a compartment within which dishes and/or crockery are placed for treatment and/or washing. The compartment usually contains at least one rack designed to hold the items placed within the compartment for cleaning. The compartment is generally enclosed and sealed by a hinged door or sliding drawer, either of which may have a handle. Within the compartment, there are usually a number of sprayers, e.g., nozzles, arranged to provide spraying water to assist with the treatment and/or washing of dishes and/or crockery. A basin designed to collect water sprayed from the nozzles is located within the base of the compartment. The basin contains a drain and a hose which allows water to drain and be removed from the compartment at the conclusion of a wash cycle. The dishwasher also includes a detergent and/or prewash dispenser arranged and configured to release detergent and/or prewash into the compartment during the wash and/or treatment cycle. The dispenser often includes a cover to hold the detergent and/or prewash in place and may be arranged to selectively release the detergent into the compartment.
The dishwasher may include one or more sumps in the bottom wall of a tub or basin comprising the dishwasher. The sumps function to collect pooled fluid which may comprise water alone or water with detergent and/or prewash materials. The mixture collected in the one or more sumps may then be pumped into and sprayed from the sprayers located in the housing of the dishwasher.
The dishwasher may comprise a control system which regulates a cycle of the dishwasher such that the cycle includes stages. Stages may include, e.g., rinsing, washing, and drying.
Available dishwashers and their cleaning cycles have limitations and shortcomings. In particular, oils, fats, vegetable matter, and other foodstuffs may become dried and crusted on crockery and dishware, especially if a user of the dishwasher fails to rinse the crockery and dishware immediately after use or the crockery and dishware is left to sit for an amount of time before running the dishwasher cycle. In such an event, the standard rinse and wash cycles found in available dishwashers may not be sufficient to clean the crockery and dishware.
Traditionally, a person facing advanced stains or difficult soiling of crockery and dishware must scrape food particles from their dishes before loading them into a dishwasher. In addition to scraping, a user may utilize a presoaking of the dishes and/or crockery, e.g., in their sink prior to loading their dishwasher. Presoaking may be required for up to 12 hours to be effective. While presoaking, the items to be washed may be placed in water or a water-soap solution. Such a solution may utilize hand soap and/or dishwashing detergent.
As part of presoaking dishware prior to being placed in a dishwasher, presoak detergents have been developed to help break down some food residues. The presoak detergents may be added to water in which soiled dishware is placed prior to being placed within a dishwasher in addition to or in lieu of hand soap and/or dishwashing detergent.
Presoak detergents differ from standard washing detergents. In particular, presoak detergents are designed for soaking and/or breaking down tough, baked-on foods from surfaces of pots and pans, amongst other items of dishware and crockery. Presoak detergents can be especially useful and effective with greasy soils, and baked-on or dried-on food residuals.